Interview with Lisa Denker, Director of Heart of the Sea

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage month, DUE EAST airs on PBS and features special programming on the history and culture of Asian Pacific Americans. On May 6, 2003 Thirteen (WNET) presented the documentary Heart of the Sea, a moving portrait of Rell "Kapolioka'ehukai" Sunn, a professional surfer and activist who died of breast cancer at the age of 47. Known worldwide as a women's surfing pioneer, at home in Hawaii, Rell achieved the stature of an icon for her leadership in a community that loved her.

Born in Makaha, Rell Sunn began to surf at the age of 4 and by 14 was entering surf meets. An expert swimmer, she also became Hawaii's first female lifeguard. She helped organize the Women's Surfing Hui and the Women's Professional Surfing Association. In 1975 she founded the women's professional surfing tour and in 1982 she ranked first in the international professional surfing ratings. She became known as the "Queen of Makaha" for her efforts to teach children to surf and for her involvement in many community programs. Her Menehune Surf Meet for children has been an annual event for 28 years.

AsiaSource spoke with Lisa Denker about the making of the documentary, Rell's legacy as a pioneer surfer and community activist, and the dignity that she showed while living with cancer.

Heart of the Sea is your directorial debut. How did you get involved with this film and what drew you to Rell Sunn's story?

Heart of the Sea was made over a five-year period. My initial exposure to Rell Sunn was through preparation and research on a large multi-part film on the history of women's surfing. Knowing that Rell was going to be a chapter in that film, and that she was not always available because at the time she was living with breast cancer, we felt the urgency to contact her in 1995. At that time she was not well enough to participate in our project. But two years later, Rell called us saying "come on over." In no time, we hopped on a plane to Oahu with DV camera.

At that time, my intention was to make a day-in-the-life solely film on Rell Sunn. It was to be a live action portait of her doing what she does in her life: surfing, spearfishing, picking limu (seaweed). I was so fascinated by her unique lifestyle, which included ancient Hawaiian traditions like spearfishing, and by her own physical beauty; the physicalness of her daily routine, the beautiful landscape she lived in; her athleticism; her appreciation of art and culture; her legacy; and all the while living with breast cancer.

I made the film because I was drawn to her personality and lifestyle. I thought somone as unique as that should be documented. But as I got to know more about Rell, I started to see more layers, and it all added up to a more complex portrait. Her long struggle with cancer, along with her perseverance in her daily life, would serve as dramatic conflict for the film

The film includes an interview with Rell a couple of months before she passed away. Was it difficult for her to have a crew around during this period? Likewise was it difficult for you and your team?

When we arrived in Makaha and met Rell for the first time, I immediately knew then that Rell was no longer living the life that I set out to document. I realized that my shotlist and live-action shooting with Rell would not be possible. The cancer was now throughout her body and in her lungs, and she could no longer spear fish dive or surf because the cancer tumors protruded from her ribcage, and she could no longer paddle out on a surfboard. It was clear that she wanted her story to be told by having us come at a time when she really had very little strength. It made it that more important to me to be there for her. If she wanted to be shot with her friends tidepooling, or look through her photo albums, then that's what we would do.

We were on "Rell-time." I could not ask her to do my shot- lists; her health would not enable her. Instead of going with the planned shoot, I threw out of my mind the earlier approach, and thought instead that the most important thing is to be available to her, and to do a sit down interview with her. From the moment I stepped on her lanai, I knew that I was not only physically stepping into her home, but I was stepping into her life, and I knew that this was the beginning of a big commitment. She was so strong at the weakest point of her health, and I wanted to be there for her. It was all about her from that moment on. There were a couple of days when we thought, "Are we going to see her again"? I was even there to film her last ride on a wave, riding her boogieboard.

I feel very honored to have been a part of all this. The sit down interview presented itself as the most in-depth, honest, open interview that Rell has ever given. And that became the backbone of Heart of the Sea. After the ten day period we spent with Rell, a few days later she fell into a coma, and then a month later, she died on January 2, 1998.

Do you know what Rell's ethnic background was?

She is a typical Hawaiian mix in that she is Hawaiian, Chinese, and Irish.

Rell Sunn's career as a pioneer woman surfer serves as an incredible role model for young women, especially for young Asian American women. Do you feel she ever faced obstacles in her career being a Pacific Islander?

I think she really had more economic problems. She came from the poorest part of the island. Her sponsors were really her local sponsors -- the gas station down the street, the veterinarian's office, and so on. Some of her friends who were also pioneer pro- surfers, mostly coming from California, didn't have as much trouble. For example, Jericho Poppler had Coca Cola as a sponsor. In terms of locality, Rell had less options. Later into the '80s there were a few local surf-line companies, such as Local Motion and Hang Ten who became her sponsors. In the film she talks about the politics of this and how she lost Hang Ten as a sponsor once they found out about her having a masectomy. But no matter what, Rell was one of the "soul surfers." She gave the sport personality.

Another obstacle she faced was that there wasn't a lot available to her in terms of cancer treatment. There were not many medical services where she lived when she got diagnosed. It is something that wasn't been offered to her community until the late '80s and '90s.

Rell not only had remarkable talents as a surfer, diver, and hula dancer, but she was also a community activist. After being diagnosed with cancer, she did a lot of outreach to Hawaiian women trying to educate them about breast cancer. Do you know if there is still a high number of deaths from breast cancer among her community? Are there better services and education now?

In 2000, according to Women's Health Watch, Hawaiian women still had the highest rate of death from breast cancer. Yes, there are more support groups now and the Kapiolani Health Foundation is working on opening the first all in one place breast cancer center, which will be the first of it's kind in Hawaii. However, some programs such as the one in which Rell participated no longer exist because of lack of funding.

Rell began surfing at such a young age. She witnessed and helped the sport of surfing grow into maturity for women. What are some of the new or enduring challenges for women in this sport?

I know there is still a huge discrepancy between the money that's made in the men's circuit versus the women's circuit. Even for this film about Rell there has been no money from the surf industry that has been received to date for the production budget, which is startling. It says a lot about what's going on. If you have been to a surf shop or looked at a surf magazine, you see the way they market the women's circuit. It is geared toward young girls and does not realistically portray athletic or full-shaped women, which happens in a lot of sports.

The biggest shame is that they have the best role model there is. Rell Sunn is not just a pretty picture. She is a "soul surfer" and her lifestyle encompassed everything good about surfing, taking care of everybody in the water as well as the water itself. In the '90s Rell did some work with Patagonia for their catalogues. The company used her in a healthy way because she was just somebody out there doing a sport and that is how Patagonia likes to show and sell their gear. But some of these surf magazines are really selling to 11 or 13 year olds. I know there is a lot more money available these days but there is still overall a lower respect given to women in surfing when compared to men.

The film includes beautiful footage of the ocean, archival news coverage, and many interviews with friends and family. How difficult was it to gather this content?

We were with Rell at the end of her life. It was really important that we not make a film just about the end of her life. Part of why it took so long to make the film was that we had to archive and collect content. It also took a couple of years to convince Don King, the underwater cinematographer, to work with us. His work is so beautiful and we had seen it in the film Surfer Girl. Early on when cutting our own trailers and our first sections we used some of his footage. Once we made that happen we knew we wanted to pursue him for more. I story boarded the recreations about Rell as a young girl seen in the film and he shot them.

Collecting news footage was very time consuming. We would comb through local news stations and sometimes it would months, and years to collect archival footage and personal archives. Everybody has a "Rell story" and so constantly our list of interviews kept growing. People would keep recommending other people to talk to and it would just keep working out from there.

This film is being aired on PBS in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. What do you hope audiences, particularly Asian Americans, come away with after seeing Heart of the Sea?

I want to make Rell's story reach the people who don't know about her yet. A lot of people know about her as a surfer, and a lot of people know her as a role model for breast cancer advocacy, and for starting the Menehune Surf Contest (surf contest for kids). She is known for so many different things, but I get excited about the airing of the film in a small midwestern town where people don't surf or people don't know of anyone who has cancer. I am excited for her story to get out there and be the inspiration that she is. It is also important to show the conflict in her life. She was really living right up against the reminder how precious each moment is, and how interconnected everything is, and I wanted to show how she went through all of this with such dignity. Whether you are living with an illness or not, we can all relate to her because the film has a strong universal theme. Rell put it so simply when she said, "When you can get in the water, you own your life again." Whatever it is we love to do, when we can do it, that is when we are truly living.

Interview conducted by Cindy Yoon of AsiaSource.